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Lefty-hitting Revere seeing success vs. lefties

Lefty-hitting Revere seeing success vs. lefties

PHILADELPHIA -- Ben Revere's numbers have spiked since a very slow first month with the Phillies.

But what some people might not realize is the left-handed Revere actually has better numbers against left-handed pitching.

Revere is 25-for-69 (.362) against southpaws this season, which trumps his .284 average in 236 at-bats against right-handers. This isn't a one-season phenomenon for the center fielder, either. In his career, Revere has a .299 average against lefties and a .277 mark when facing righties.

"The main thing when I grew up was to keep my front shoulder in, that can help you on fastballs and offspeed pitches," Revere said. "Ever since then, I've been hitting lefties all through the Minors and the Majors."

Revere -- whom the Phillies received in a trade from the Twins during the offseason -- slumped through the first month of the season and had a .200 average in his first 23 games. This gave many fans a negative impression of the speedster, but he has done a lot to get people cheering for him since April.

Since May 1, Revere is hitting .344 in 63 games. Revere did come up empty at the plate in a few run-scoring opportunities on Wednesday against the Nationals, but his .302 average leads the team, as do his 21 steals. He compared his slow start to having a bad Monday at work.

"That's the way some Mondays are. Mondays, April, you wake up and nothing can go right," Revere said. "You just got to keep fighting, that's the main thing. I was down in the dumps and stuck there. But this pitching, it's a little bit different, I knew I could hit it. It took a little bit of time, but I got rolling."

Todd Zolecki is a reporter for MLB.com. Stephen Pianovich is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.